Fractional CFO Services in Anchorage
Fractional CFO and controller services for Anchorage construction, contractors, distribution, manufacturing, and service businesses.
Anchorage / Statewide Alaska Coverage
Serving Alaska's businesses.
Vessel Advisors serves Alaska companies — oil and gas services firms, seafood and fishing operators, construction and trades contractors, logistics businesses, and Alaska Native Corporation operating subsidiaries.
Alaska's mid-market is small, but it's distinctive. Resource industries, transportation logistics, and the Alaska Native Corporation business community produce a set of companies that don't fit the templates national finance firms typically apply to the Lower 48.
How can we help?
What’s going on in your business and where would you like help?
An Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Company for two consecutive years.
The Market
Alaska's business economy doesn't look like anyone else's.
Alaska's economy is built on resource extraction — oil and gas on the North Slope, salmon and groundfish across the coast, minerals across the Interior — combined with the logistics and services infrastructure that supports them. The Alaska Native Corporations are a substantial business community in their own right, often operating diversified portfolios of services, construction, and government-contracting businesses both inside and outside the state. National fractional CFO firms rarely understand any of this. We do.
What we see most:
- Oil and gas services firms supporting North Slope and Cook Inlet operations.
- Seafood operators — processors, fleet operators, and the businesses serving the Alaska fishing industry.
- Alaska Native Corporation operating subsidiaries across services, construction, and federal contracting.
- Construction contractors, trades businesses, and infrastructure operators across the state.
- Aviation and logistics operators serving Alaska's distinctive transportation requirements.
Industries
Where we work most in Alaska.
Oil and gas services
Service firms supporting North Slope and Cook Inlet operations. Commodity cycle exposure, customer concentration, capital structure for equipment, and operational discipline through demand swings are the recurring work.
Seafood and fishing
Processors, fleet operators, and the broader fishing-industry supply chain. Seasonal working capital, commodity price exposure, multi-entity vessel structures, and inventory dynamics are baseline.
Alaska Native Corporation operations
Diversified ANC operating subsidiaries across services, construction, federal contracting, and resource operations. Multi-entity consolidation, shareholder reporting, and capital allocation across portfolios are the recurring conversations.
Construction and logistics
Construction contractors, aviation operators, and logistics businesses serving Alaska's distinctive geography. Project-level profitability, fleet economics, and capital structure for asset-intensive operations.
Alaska Taxes and Compliance
Alaska's only income tax falls on corporations. Owners pay no state income tax on salary or pass-through profits.
Anchorage adds no general sales, income or payroll tax of its own. What businesses here do face is a corporate tax on C corporations, the Municipality's tax on business personal property, and employer rules that include daily overtime and paid sick leave for salaried staff.
Taxes
Corporate income tax
0% to 9.4%, on C corporations only
Ten brackets run from zero on Alaska taxable income under $25,000 to 9.4% above $222,000, with no minimum tax. S corporations and LLCs taxed as partnerships pay no tax on income that passes through to owners. Alaska has no individual income tax, so there is no pass-through entity election to make.
Combined reporting
Water's-edge combined reports are mandatory
A C corporation reports on a combined basis with its affiliates inside the water's edge and apportions income on equal weights of property, payroll and sales. A service sale is sourced to Alaska when the work happens here, or when more of its cost falls here than in any other state. Bills to switch to market-based sourcing were vetoed in 2025 and 2026, so that rule stands.
Federal conformity
100% bonus depreciation carries into Alaska
Alaska adopts the Internal Revenue Code as amended, so the 2025 federal law's immediate expensing of domestic research costs, bonus depreciation and section 179 expensing apply without new state legislation. No decoupling bill was enacted in 2025 or 2026. Oil and gas producers and pipelines are the exception and keep older depreciation rules.
Research credit
18% of the federal credit
Alaska has no research credit of its own. A C corporation claims 18% of the federal research credit attributable to Alaska, on Form 6390. The credit isn't refundable or transferable, and carryovers follow the federal rules.
Sales tax
0% in Anchorage, 2.5% in Wasilla
Alaska has no state sales tax, and Anchorage has no general sales tax, only single-purpose taxes such as 5% on alcohol sales and 12% on room stays shorter than 30 days. Wasilla charges 2.5% with no Mat-Su Borough tax on top. Palmer rose from 3% to 4% on April 1, 2026, and Juneau charges 5%.
Business personal property
$100,000 exempt in Anchorage from 2026
The Municipality taxes business personal property, and the exemption rose from $20,000 to $100,000 of assessed value per taxpayer in tax year 2026. Only owners above $100,000 file. The return is due April 30 and reports what the business owned on January 1.
Employers
Minimum wage
$14.00 an hour, $15.00 from July 2027
The state rate rose to $14.00 on July 1, 2026, and the statute sets $15.00 for July 1, 2027, with yearly adjustments for Anchorage inflation after that. Alaska has no tip credit, so tipped employees earn the full rate.
Exempt salaries
Twice the minimum wage for a 40-hour week
Executive, administrative and professional employees are exempt from overtime only when paid a salary of at least two times the state minimum wage for 40 hours. The floor moves with every minimum-wage increase, so it rises again in July 2027.
Daily overtime
Overtime after 8 hours in a day
Time and a half is owed for hours over 8 in a day or over 40 in a week, and daily overtime hours aren't counted twice toward the 40. Employers with fewer than 4 employees are exempt, along with some listed industries. A four-day, 10-hour schedule needs an approved flexible-hour plan.
Paid sick leave
56 hours a year at 15 or more employees
Employees earn one hour for every 30 worked, usable up to 56 hours a year, or 40 at employers under 15 people, and exempt staff are covered. Unused leave carries over, with no payout at separation. Since 2025, employers also may not penalize staff who skip a meeting held mainly to share the employer's views on religion or politics.
Unemployment insurance
$54,200 wage base, with 0.50% from employees
Employers withhold the employee share, up to $271 per person in 2026, on top of paying their own rate. New employers pay 1.00% in every industry, construction included, so a new account costs 1.50% combined on the first $54,200 of each employee's wages.
Final paychecks
3 working days after a termination
When the employer ends the job, for any cause, final pay is due within 3 working days. An employee who quits is paid on the next regular payday at least 3 days after the employer gets notice. Late pay can cost up to 90 working days of regular wages.
Questions Anchorage owners ask
Is an oilfield service company taxed like an oil producer in Alaska?
No. Producers and pipelines have their own apportionment and tax-base rules, combine worldwide, pay the oil and gas production and property taxes, and compute depreciation under federal rules as they read in 1981. An oilfield service company is an ordinary corporate taxpayer. As a C corporation it pays the same 0% to 9.4% rates as any other, and as an S corporation or LLC it pays no Alaska tax on pass-through income.
How does Alaska tax and license construction contractors?
Alaska has no state sales, gross-receipts or contractor tax. Contractors pay local sales and use taxes where a city or borough levies them, which Anchorage does not, and C corporations pay corporate income tax. Every contractor registers with the state before bidding or working and carries a surety bond: $25,000 for a general contractor, $20,000 for one doing only residential work, and $10,000 for a specialty contractor. More on how a fractional controller works with contractors.
How fast do contractors get paid on Alaska public jobs?
Alaska's prompt-payment statute covers public construction, meaning a prime contract with the state or a political subdivision. The prime pays its subcontractors within 8 working days of being paid, subcontractors pay their suppliers on the same clock, and late amounts carry interest. The agency pays the prime interest on retainage from approval of the pay request, and the prime releases subcontractor retainage within 8 working days after final payment, with interest.
When does a mechanics' lien have to be recorded in Alaska?
Within 120 days after the contract is completed or materials were last furnished. If the owner records a notice of completion, a claimant who got advance notice of it, or who never gave a notice of right to lien, has 15 days from that recording. The notice of right to lien is optional, but giving it before furnishing shifts the burden to the owner to prove they didn't know of or consent to the work.
What do I take on when I buy an Alaska business?
Unpaid state unemployment contributions are a lien on the business property when a business is sold, and the buyer has to hold back enough of the price until the seller produces a receipt or a certificate that nothing is due. A buyer who skips the holdback is personally liable if the contributions aren't paid within 10 days. In Anchorage, whoever owns the business on January 1 owes the full year's personal property tax and the Municipality doesn't prorate it, so the purchase agreement has to. More on the first year after acquiring a business.
Is Alaska a community property state?
Only by agreement. Alaska isn't a community property state by default, but under the Alaska Community Property Act spouses can make property community property through a signed community property agreement or a community property trust. Each spouse then holds a present, undivided half interest, which bears on estate and basis planning for a business interest.
Do we owe Alaska sales tax on goods we ship in from out of state?
Alaska has no state sales tax, but member cities and boroughs collect their local sales taxes from remote sellers through the Alaska Remote Seller Sales Tax Commission. A seller without physical presence registers once its gross sales delivered into Alaska exceed $100,000 in the prior or current year, counting deliveries into places with no tax and exempt sales. The 200-transaction test ended on January 1, 2025. Registration is due within 30 days of crossing the threshold, and returns are filed monthly.
What recurring state filings does an Alaska company have?
A state business license costs $50 a year, and one license covers every location. Corporations and LLCs file a biennial report by January 2 of their filing year, at $100 for a domestic entity and $200 for a foreign one. Unclaimed property is reported before November 1 for property held as of June 30, and uncashed wages go dormant after one year, against three years for most property.
Figures verified October 2026 against the Alaska Statutes and bill records of the Alaska Legislature, the Alaska Department of Revenue, the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, the Alaska Remote Seller Sales Tax Commission and the Municipality of Anchorage. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.
Anchorage Finance Talent
Accountant pay in Anchorage is level with the nation. The median financial manager earns $129,220, against $166,570 nationally.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 1,200 financial managers in the Anchorage metro, the category that covers controllers and finance directors. Median pay is $129,220, about 22% below the national median of $166,570, and the top tenth earns $209,590 or more, against $323,270 nationally. Accountants and auditors earn a median $82,150, level with the national $83,680.
The Anchorage metro has 524 business locations with 50 to 499 employees, and they hire from that same pool of 1,200 financial managers. A company that needs CFO judgment doesn't have to win a search in a market that size to get it.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Anchorage MSA and national. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023.
How we engage.
When It's Broken
Put out the fire.
Interim CFO & Controller. At the loss of a key employee. When things crash or break. We deploy interim professionals — repairing what's broken and keeping the system running while you decide what's next.
When You're Building & Exiting
Advise and serve.
CFO, Controller & Accounting Team. Right-sized financial leadership — and the team to execute. Embedded for the long run. The CFO Power Team: right roles, right cost.
When You Don't Know What You Don't Know
Assessment services.
Financial Discovery Assessment. A structured deep-dive that reveals where your finance function stands today — and what it needs to support where you're going.
Transaction Readiness Assessment. Will the books and reporting tell the right story to a buyer or investor — and do the systems and processes support merger or acquisition activities?
Coverage
We cover Alaska.
We support Alaska companies through our team and bench — on-site time when it matters, virtual delivery for the work that doesn't require it. We're used to the time-zone realities of working with Alaska clients from the Lower 48.
Coverage area: Anchorage, Mat-Su Valley, Fairbanks, Juneau, and statewide.
Call the team
866-324-4473Our Proprietary Diagnostic
The Financial Discovery Assessment shows you what’s working, what’s missing, and the plan to get where the business needs to go.
Every Assessment applies the same structured examination — accounting systems and technology, processes and procedures, team members and team structure, and team-member will-skill — refined across hundreds of engagements in businesses that look like yours.
The output is the Financial Heat Map System: dollarized findings, hidden inefficiencies, and a sequenced plan. It’s presented at the Executive Action Meeting, where your stakeholders review findings and recommendations in non-clinical, non-technical language they can act on.
We’ve walked into hundreds of businesses at the stage yours is in now. We know where to look. We know how to fix what we find.
Prefer to call? 866-324-4473